A Day at the Rices

[SoCalDMAX]

I often like to stir the pot (not around here ;) ) and tonight I'm gonna use a big spoon!

Got the Juice hooked up, 3/4 tank of fuel and a full bottle of propane. The racelegal.com organization keeps the RicEb0ys interested in racing at the stadium, 1/8mi drags instead of street racing.

It's mildly successful, but great fun to watch these kids with $2,000 worth of carbon fiber, a fart can exhaust and 25 stickers from Japan stand around and bench race about the 175rwhp they made on the dyno and the extra 7.225hp they picked up with the titanium adjustable cam sprocket. For only $500.

They often think I'm retarded, or clueless due to my age. Nevermind the fact that I was the first in San Diego to put huge Manley SS valves into a hand ported VW Rabbit head (before the GTI, think Dodge Omni 1.8L engine from junkyard). Ever try to find a welder willing to reweld your water passage through the intake port of an aluminum head due to your overzealous use of a die grinder?

Even though they have a huge weight advantage and the 1/8mi favors quick light weight vehicles, it is with pride that I go to the races tonight and reaffirm the following truths, despite the 6800lb weight of the truck:

1. Turbo'd anything deserves careful consideration, if not respect.

2. Diesels smoke. Especially little 4 bangers.

3. Watch out for the old fart. He probably earns good money and can afford stuff that's still on your wish list.

4. Old farts can plaster "Type R" stickers all over their vehicles, too.

5. If a 4" exhaust tip can give you an extra 50hp, just imagine what dual 5" tips will do.

6. Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill every time.

7. Noise doesn't make horsepower. Beware the silent but deadly. It's not just a woman thing.

8. In the end, the cubes will get ya.


A friend of mine always stuffed blown big blocks into really nondescript sleepers and blew doors off all over town. When I asked him the secret to success, he replied something along the lines of being an unknown and cubic megabucks.

I don't have cubic megabucks, but these diesels sure do make power easy! If I don't come back with a bed full of Honda/Acura doors, at the very least they'll roll their windows up when they see a diesel! ;)

I'll post pics of the whole sordid affair after the carnage (and the smoke clears.)

BWHahahahaha! Steve

[ 07-26-2002: Message edited by: SoCalDMAX ]</p>

[Heavy Duty Neil]

Happy hunting!! :D

[Maverick]

Is it time to harvest RICE already? :eek: Sure was a short growing season. :D

[ 07-26-2002: Message edited by: Maverick ]</p>

[SoMnDMAX]

Steve.... Steeeve... STEVE!!! Time for your medication again.....

:D :D :D :D

[wangotango]

snap-crackle-pop

oh my

w/t

[Breck]

It doesn't sound fair; the Dmax is half a rice burner anyway!

I will admit it is fun beating up the rice burners with a noisy stinky diesel! The look on their faces as you pull away from them is priceless!

Have fun,

Breck ;)

[Texas Rancher]

I too love being 'stealth'!! My wife and I were at a stop light in town the other day (no, i dont get to town all that much-and i love it!) and next to me was a rice grider that was revving its' engine over and over...This 'cracker box on wheels' was really decked out..Big pipe, over-sized spoiler, huge wheels, and it was dropped very low to the gound (so low, in fact that I believe that it would have high-centered on a cow chip!!) The motor was just barely noticeable over the LOUD, nasty music that was spewing from its' speakers...I proceeded the rev my motor, but it was hard to get their attention due to the music of their rig...I finally mangaged to get their attention, and we were ready to race when the light went green.. Finally it did, and I left a set of burn marks that simply amazed me!! By the look on their faces, it astonished them as well.. At the next stop light, after being whipped by a heavy pickup, they turned down their music, rolled down the window, and asked me what in the heck I had done to my pickup.. I simply said, 'I gave it some juice...' (hehe) Right after I said that, the light we were now at turned green----without saying another word, I lit the tires up again, and left them setting on the line..I wonder if they will tell the other people in their circle what really happened??

[NickLeinonen]

heh heh. that sounds like a blast. right now, all i can do to those like that is to turn on the a/c when my pipe is lined up with their open window, when it turns green, give her 100% throttle position and give em a blast of smoke... oh they enjoy that [not f'n likely but that's not my fault!]

[SoCalDMAX]

Hi Guys,

Time for the updates on the 1/8mi drag racing scene. My medication has worn off and I've got the pictures uploaded from the Fri. nite drags.

I decided to stir the pot with a big spoon, so I plastered the truck with banners, some up to 11"x17". One read, "Big, fat, slow 6800lb diesel truck. Pass with care." another read," GOT RICE?", "Type R Si GT VR Turbo" and "100HP Sticker!!" I really crack up at these huge "TEAM TAKAHASHI" stickers all over these things, so I figured I'd better get some high horsepower stickers.

Everyone loved them, I got big thumbs up from everyone, including the ricers. A nice guy in the tech insp. area said, "Like your truck, but a Cummins is the only diesel for me..." we chatted for a while, he knows his Cummins.

The tech inspector said, "Don't even try to tell me this thing is stock..." I admitted it wasn't, but told him that the 300hp they do come with does move it pretty smartly. A Z28 owner walked over, smiled and immediately asked "Where's the propane?"

Snapped a pic of all of the rice cars in the tech lane, felt like a brontosaurus at a raptor convention. I set all of the shocks to setting 1 to get what little weight transfer I could.

Run #1: I got a bad launch (read: asleep at the wheel) with a 1.33 reaction time, but the truck hooked up great with an 1100rpm powerbrake launch and crossed the line at over 72mph. Tow/haul worked fine with crisp shifts. A little too much smoke with the Juice on level 4, propane on full and the Power Play on 50%. The crowd loved it and the announcer was taken aback. He was expecting much slower times out of a diesel.

Run #2: The announcer is now clued in and asking the crowd for info on this diesel truck. He reads the banners to the crowd and notes, "This guy's lookin' for a race!"

Better launch with .77 reaction time and 9.43sec/74.85mph run. Launched at 1100rpm, no spin, no bog. 1200rpm might have been better and still need to work on R/T, but best run for the night. Juice was on level 4 and propane on.

Run #3: Launched at 1500rpm and forgot to put it in tow/haul. Terrible launch at 11sec ET, but still 72mph at the finish line. The truck launched hard, spun the tires, defueled, shifted, spun the tires, defueled and shifted. From the stands, it just looked slow. Juice on level 4 and propane.

Overall, I'm very pleased that it gets up to 75mph in less than half a block from a standing start. The vast majority of the cars were running mid 10s or slower. The only vehicles faster were running slicks, with nitrous or a turbo. With slicks, I'd launch a lot harder, but this was just for fun.

The tranny didn't have any problems, but it never went into 5th gear. I planned on using the truck to go to Las Vegas the next day (Sat.) and it ran flawlessly all the way there and back. Just LOOOVE this truck!

Here are the pics: http://www.pbase.com/sfrakes/a_day_at_the_rices

Regards, Steve

[pullinpower]

Great pics socaldmax,how did that 55 chevy run?

[matt-max]

OOOHHH WHAT GREAT FUN YOU HAD!!!

[SoCalDieselNewbie]

SoCalDMAX,

You are a f'ing riot... I almost lost my soda when I saw the pictures of the stickers.

Newbie

[mackin]

Steve,

They ought to lock you up, Messing with them RICERS.......Did you manage to beat anyone? If you did, I'm surprised they didn't toss their tongue, nipple, eyebrow and lid, not to mention lip Jewelry, track side to give you a flat....... tongue.gif Or the Gang Bangers toss you in the culvert....... tongue.gif Just kidding there ,nice PICS......That's a lot of SMOKE ,I'll take it no Enviro Cops showed for the event........ LOL

MAC :D

[ 07-31-2002: Message edited by: mackin ]</p>

[PEANUTGRWR]

HEY SOCAL, I LOVE THE PICS LMAO!!!! HAVE YOU GOTTEN A CHANCE TO RUN YOUR TRUCK ALL OUT IN A 1/4 MILE RACE WITH PROPANE JUICE AND POWERPLAY. IM JUST CURIOUS AS TO HOW FAST THAT COMBO IS IN A QUARTER MILE SETTING smile.gif

[SoCalDieselNewbie]

SoCalDMax,

Maybe a trip up towards Irwindale might be in order in the near future.

LOTS OF RICERS UP HERE!

[SoCalDMAX]

Hi Guys,

Since I was racing, I didn't get a chance to see the '55 run, but when he was idling, his blower belt whine COMPLETELY drowned out my truck! I think that thing really hooks up...

Yup, the second run I beat the other guy by quite a margin. Basically everyone who was running slicks, nitrous or turbo, and stripped interior ran faster than the truck, all others were the same or slower. Lots of modified Mustangs, but without slicks, most of them ran in the 10's.

Some of these guys were pretty innovative, custom built turbo systems, etc. Most just bolted on the shiney stuff and posed, ala "The Passed and the Curious".

I had the wife bring the BMW down and I planned to run it just to see how the V12 stacks up to a turbodiesel and LPG, but they were running this event so sloppy I only got 3 runs in 5 hrs!

I'm planning a full day of test-n-tune at Irwindale's 1/4mi track in the near future. The goal is to see how far into the 13's I can get this thing without slicks or buying a new tranny!

If I break, my buddy's F350 PSD will probably tow me back, for shame! I won't take pictures of that, talk about an incentive to keep it together! ;)

Regards, Steve

[SoCalDieselNewbie]

SoCalDMAX,

Since you are a bro...

If you break down @ Irwindale, I'll tow your @ss back to Santee to save you the embarassment of being towed by a Powerjoke. I live about 15 minutes from the strip.

With the ponies & torque that you must be turning, you really think that you can get away with not doing some tranny mods?

[DMAXDiva]

Way to go Steve!

Great pics...sure hope you can provide us with more during your next "outing"...thanks a bunch! :D

[SWLA]

Thought y'all might enjoy some of these ricer links. Glad to know I'm not the only one gets a laugh out of seeing a $5,000 with $10,000 worth of useless crap all over it. Copy and paste.

http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/mueller/ricers.html

http://www.jimmy540i.com/bmwnightmare.htm

http://www.ricecop.com/